Marvel's Captain America enters a new era with JMS and Jesus Saiz
Steve Rogers' history is at the core of the new Captain America series
Fan-favorite writer J. Michael Straczynski — who created Babylon 5, in addition to writing beloved comic book runs on Amazing Spider-Man and Thor — is returning to Marvel to take charge of another iconic hero, writing the fall relaunch of the Captain America comic book series with Steve Rogers in the title role.
The new series will feature a storyline that spans decades as a present-day Rogers deals with a supernatural threat, which is somehow connected to his life as a scrawny teen before he ever received the Super Soldier serum that turned him into a star-spangled legend, with the writer teasing that his experience in that era — one which saw the rise of fascism around the world, including in the United States — was “transformational” for the hero.
“I’ve often heard writers say how hard it is to write for Captain America because in recent years he’s become a symbol more than a person, and because they see him as ‘a man out of time,’ which is true but that needn’t define him,” Straczynski told io9, which broke the news. “In a sense, we’re all people out of time because the world we live in at age 30 isn’t the same it was when we were six. It doesn’t change the fundamental question: who is this character at their absolute core? Push them to their limits, put them up against a wall, make them stand when standing is the hardest thing in the world…and what do you see? Who do you see?”
The series, titled simply Captain America, will be illustrated by Jesús Saiz, who has recently finished a 12-issue run with Jason Aaron on Punisher.
Marvel’s official description of the series runs, “Decades ago, Steve Rogers changed the world forever. Now powerful and insidious forces are assembling to ensure he never does it again. Past, present and future collide as the man out of time reckons with an existential threat determined to set the world on a darker path at any cost…”
And here is a preview of the first issue:
Captain America #1 will be released September 20.
The current Captain America run is in the midst of the Cold War storyline; revisit the NYCC panel teasing that from last year.
